Chatsworth shop teaches public how to keep bees, maintain hives and cultivate honey
The Valley Hive offers beekeeping classes for people who want to learn more about bees and experience the magic of beekeeping.
CHATSWORTH, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- People all over the San Fernando Valley are buzzing about The Valley Hive, a one-stop shop in Chatsworth for honey, plants, equipment and even bees.
Co-owner Danny Finkelstein says his interest in bees started when he discovered a hive on a local property he was rehabbing 10 years ago.
"I found a beekeeper that removed them and the process he went through in removing them and diagnosing it, telling me how much and me hiring him and getting it done really stuck with me that day," said Finkelstein.
As his passion for bees grew stronger, Finkelstein and business partner Keith Roberts started The Valley Hive.
"It's a beautiful surrounding. It's free of charge for people to come and walk around the nursery as well as come into the honey shop and check out what we have in there, which is a range of wonderful local, raw honey as well as some specialty honey and other gifts from the hive," Finkelstein said.
The Valley Hive also offers beekeeping classes. Finkelstein says it's a great way for people to learn about bees and start their own hive in their backyard.
"We have classes most every weekend here that my partner Keith leads and has curated and has done a wonderful job," Finkelstein said.
"I just really liked it and I wanted to come back and learn how to become a beekeeper and I've got a big backyard, so perfect for bees," said beekeeping student Shanna Lisa.
"It's so much fun and you can start from knowing absolutely nothing about bees and go from that to actually working the hives," said beekeeping student Sabrina de Silva.
Experts say bees are crucial to the environment because they pollinate a third of the food we eat. And they are in peril, with some species at risk of extinction.
"They're wonderful creatures, they're brilliant and they're critically important and they're in trouble," Finkelstein said. "We feel like we are helping one hive at a time."
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